1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electrically powered vehicles and more particularly to motorized golf carts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most golf enthusiasts enjoy the exercise of walking the golf course but some have difficulties in pulling a heavy golf cart, particularly up relatively steep hilly areas of the course. To address this problem, a number of powered golf carts have been devised.
Most powered golf carts include a wheeled frame adapted to carry a golf bag, an electric motor coupled to at least one of the wheels, a storage battery, and a control mechanism coupling the storage battery to the electric motor. They are sometimes provided with braking mechanisms. Electric golf carts of the prior art tend to be large, bulky, and heavy and thus are difficult to transport, particularly in passenger vehicles.
Some prior art electric golf carts are partially collapsible so as to be more readily transportable. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3, 719,247 of Hollis an electrically driven golf cart is disclosed which can be collapsed in a transverse manner. A similar collapsible golf cart is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,289,324 of Nemeth.
A problem with prior art collapsible electric golf carts is that they still are too large to fit within the trunk of a car without partial disassembly. Furthermore, most of the prior art golf carts of this type utilize standard golf bags which must be removed and stored separately for compactness. A more compact flat rack carrier such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,480,597, has not been applied to electric golf carts.
Another problem with prior art electric golf carts is that they are difficult to operate. Many have separate switches and levers to control such functions as steering, braking, and acceleration.